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Diarrhoea represents a significant public health concern worldwide and is responsible for an increase in mortality and morbidity, especially among children but also among adults. Cryptosporidium, one of the most common intestinal protozoan parasites, is the etiological agent of cryptosporidiosis, an acute infection with self-limiting evolution, but that can evolve into severe diarrhoea in children and immunosuppressed hosts. The main species that cause human cryptosporidiosis are C. parvum and C. hominis. Despite the progress made in order to control and monitor cryptosporidiosis at the global level, numerous outbreaks have been reported with the source of infection being food or water. Using Promedmail.org we have performed a review of Cryptosporidium related outbreaks reported in the last 10 years over the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the most important public health challanges all over the world. World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that almost one third of the world's population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis). Early diagnosis, an adequate therapy, and preventions measures of disease spread are essential for an efficient control of TB. Problems that arise are related to the clinical management and prevention of dissemination of the disease in the general population. In terms of diagnosis, of great importance is the early detection of M. tuberculosis and the detection of susceptibility to antituberculous drugs in the mycobacteriology laboratory. The advent of new and modern methods of molecular diagnosis has considerable shortened the time in which the bacteriological diagnosis and susceptibility tests to antituberculous drugs are established. Such a test is GenoTypeMDRTBplus. Studying the 234 pathological prelevates positive to microscopy from the period October - December 2013, we have revealed that 161 strains were sensitive to rifampicin and isoniazid, and 54 strains were resistant. Others results of the study will be presented in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cystic echinococcosis is an often-overlooked condition that otherwise negatively impacts both the individual and the community, prompting major public health concerns. Early diagnosis and treatment, as well as collaboration between specialties including surgery and parasitology, are essential for avoiding complications and disease relapse. To better illustrate this, we present the case of an elderly person with a rare localization of the disease at the muscular level. The patient underwent numerous surgical interventions, and received multiple courses of antiparasitic treatment over the course of 40 years as a result of the multivisceral dissemination of the parasite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Resistance to carbapenems represents a public health across the world. Screening for carbapenem resistance can be done starting from the antibiogram, but confirmatory methods are usually performed in reference centers. Methods for rapid identification of carbapenemase activity are required to empower laboratories to detect carbapenemases and raise signals for infectious disease physicians, antibiotic stewardship teams and hospital hygiene specialists. Materials and methods. Eppendorf tubes containing Klebsiella pneumoniae strains with carbapenemase activity (KPC-1, NDM-1, OXA-48) and others with no carbapenemase activity (K. pneumoniae ATCC 700603 and E. coli ATCC 25922), as well as positive and negative controls were incubated at 37 °C with varying concentrations of Meropenem. After incubation, samples were spun down until a pellet formed and the supernatant was used to challenge an exponentially growing E. coli culture. This second culture was followed with nephelometric measurements every half hour. Experiments were carried out in three technical replicates. The statistical analysis was done with R (version 3.3.3) and graphs generated in RStudio (version 1.0.136) with ggplot2 (version 2.1.0). Mann Whitney U Test with the assumption of independent samples was used to analyse the results. Results. The doses of Meropenem were chosen after dose ranging experiments and multiple incubation times (from 30 minutes to two hours) were tested in order to evaluate the robustness of the method. In the cases where the antibiotic was first incubated with strains that had carbapenemase activity, the growth of Escherichia coli ATCC 25 922 was non-hindered, matching that of controls. In the absence of carbapenemase activity and in the case of negative controls, the growth indicator strain was inhibited. Statistically significant differences were identified for 0.3, as well as a 0.5 McFarland index as early as 1.5 hours total work time. Conclusions. The discovery of carbapenem resistance has direct clinical, as well as epidemiological implications. Among the mechanisms implicated in resistance to carbapenems, the presence of a carbapenemase is one of the most worrying from an epidemiological standpoint. This new tool we describe herein can be performed in all clinical microbiology laboratories, with no extra expense (as opposed to CarbaNP and BlueCarba tests). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although controlled by vaccination long ago, diphtheria may become a re-emergent disease as a result of at least two factors: the circulation of toxigenic strains in endemic areas (countries of former CSI, some of them neighbouring countries of Romania) and the lack of interest of the local health institutions for surveillance of this very low incidence disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the carriage of potentially toxigenic Corynebacterium strains in healthy people in Romania. In this study, 1120 biological samples were analysed consisting of swabs, nasal exudates and conjunctival secretions collected from 730 healthy individuals from eight different geographic regions of the country, in order to establish carriage of potentially toxigenic strains belonging to the Corynebacterium genus. 129 strains of the Corynebacterium species were isolated and identified by phenotypic and molecular methods: Corynebacterium pseudodiphtheriticum (n = 76), C. propinquum (n = 34), C. striatum (n = 9), C. macginleyi (n = 2), C. glucuronolyticum/seminale (n = 2), C. group F1(n = 6). These species are saprophytic species for the upper respiratory tract, some of them being an opportunistic pathogen especially in immunocompromised hosts. The present data require the attention of clinicians, epidemiologists and microbiologists since diphtheria is an infectious disease that could re-emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epidemiology of Bordetella pertussis infection shows an universal re-emerging pattern, independent of the increased rate of vaccination in some countries. Whooping cough can affect people of any age, as it is highly contagious, but unvaccinated infants and children possess a high risk of developing life-threatening complications. Acquiring anti-pertussis antibodies through active immunization, naturally (post-infection) or artificially (post-vaccination), do not confer life-long immunity. The acellular component of pertussis vaccine DTaP (diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis) is commonly used in the vaccination schedules, but new results of research studies show that the vaccine DTwP, which contains a whole-cell pertussis component (wP), provides a better protection against infection and an acceptable rate of adverse events. In addition to this, from the economic point of view, the cost-efficiency of DTwP vaccine is estimated to be higher. Improving the level and quality of immunization at a populational level is the best method of protection against pertussis. Adopting new strategies which contain the whole-cell pertussis component could successfully obtain a decrease in the incidence of infection and confer an appropriate durable immunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]